The Roux brothers are always reliable for finesse, quality, and attention to detail. Your palette is never overwhelmed, but always happy. A tasting menu shouldn’t make you feel dizzy, I reckon. The subtlety of flavours was matched only by the exceptional service and I left feeling like a better person. Sort of like the opposite of the feeling you get when walking out of MacDonalds (which I always liken to finishing a Cambodian ‘experience day’ blowing up cows with bazookas – fun, messy, but terribly wrong)

No, she is not a prostitute and yes, those are Leboutins. Naturally.

Puerto Banus is not known for its modesty. It is a pretty bling place crawling with Ferraris and Lamborghinis, and the port always has a fairly overwhelming haul of outrageous luxury yachts in its moorings.

You can really start to feel sick of the excess, but you know you are dealing with a really sick mind when you find this for sale:

Yes, that’s right – for the brat who has every conceivable thing already, why not shock even Mammon with your vulgarity and buy her a diamante encrusted Hannah Montana Wii for a grand. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. This was on sale in El Corte Ingles – a mall packed with unsellable miles of racks of expensive clothing – it makes you gag and boggle (aka baggling).

The consumer culture is massive on the Costa del Sol. Mind there are some upsides, namely in terms of food. The supermarket, Hipercor, puts even Whole Foods to shame (well, not in the fresh meat section). Have a look at the outrageous Iberico Ham department (!!), fresh seafood counters and the good 40m of cheese counterage. Foodies could spend some time here…

I like this yacht’s name – I think this image sums up the Andalucian indulgence nicely: